Letter: Re-open Hilton Head dog park

My thanks to Mike Newman and his dog, Honey, regarding the recent article about the closing of the Chaplin Community Park dog park on Hilton Head Island.

For those who don’t know about the dog park, it is a wonderful, fenced-in park for dogs to run around, explore, and to socialize with the other dogs and people. It is also a park where the dog owners meet and, many times, make lifelong friends with other dog owners.

We have used the dog park since our dog was a puppy, in 2005. Most dog owners are super friendly dog owners, and they make sure their dogs are well-behaved. They also care about the condition of the dog park.

After Hurricane Matthew paid his visit, many dog owners returned to the dog park and helped to empty the trash cans, provide new trash bags and clean up the smaller debris left by the hurricane. At no time was the dog park a dangerous area to let the dogs run free and enjoy the freedom of running and playing with their canine friends.

There is no reason for this great area to close. It is fenced in and this area is not where the hurricane debris is collected. Sure, if the area is needed later for the storage of debris, then we all understand.

For now, it is a safe area. Please remove the padlock and let our dogs enjoy the park.

This story was originally published January 4, 2017 at 12:24 PM with the headline "Letter: Re-open Hilton Head dog park."